The Silver Avenger's work on the underside of
the ship was becoming louder, and metal groaned from her efforts. A flash
of golden light, and Odyssey was standing on the deck of the ship - at
least she hoped it was the right one. She'd had to partially guess where
she would materialize, for the fog was becoming impossibly thick. This
is unusual for Alameda, she thinks.
Silently, Dragon Fist is picking his way up a
mooring rope to the bow of the Seventh Hell. A few seconds later
and the Silver Avenger's racket ceases - she must have made it in, or given
up, Dragon Fist thinks. It's eerily silent, other than for distant high-pitched
foghorns and the creaking of the rope he's on.
A sudden movement in a lighted porthole catches
his eye, and Dragon Fist is startled to see the form of Protector, dancing
with an elderly woman in a forties-style evening gown. Strains of the Glenn
Miller song "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" escape
from the cabin, located perhaps thirty feet away aft. A sudden flash of
golden light from the deck above, and he is temporarily blinded. When he
returns his gaze to the porthole, he finds that he can no longer see it.
Reaching the deck, Dragon Fist notices Proteus'
somewhat insubstantial form moving up the ship's ramp. A multicolored trail
follows Starlight as she flies forward and lands on the deck. Other than
the paranormals, Dragon Fist can see nothing. This is not as it seems,
the dragon rumbles from within Dragon Fist's mind, his first observation
since the teleport over an hour ago, I do not like this at all.
Proteus' insubstantial form moves quietly to the
top of the ramp, and, stepping aboard, he notices Odyssey standing ready,
her body radiating golden energy. Beyond her, Dragon Fist is nimbly stepping
onto the deck from a mooring line, and Starlight is landing nearby. There
doesn't appear to be anyone else on the deck until -
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG
--as several hatch doors open at once. As the
paranormals whirl, there is a hiss of hydraulics. Turning, the group finds
themselves facing four green-camouflaged Iron Guard suits, rising on hydraulic
lifts to the deck. Three of the agents have a gauntlet blaster aimed at
the group, while the fourth is holding something resembling a very wide
grenade launcher.
The configuration of the armor looks different
than those currently used by PRIMUS across the county, Proteus notices.
The armor is more streamlined, and seems more solid. Instead of clunky-looking
boots, the feet of the armor are wide cylinders. The fully-enclosed helmets
of the armor have a wide visor instead of the old eye slit. A stylized
red V with a snake interwined through it adorns the chest of each suit
as well.
One of the armored VIPER agents - it's impossible
to tell which - activates his suit's speaker. "Well, well. Look what
we have here," a deep voice mockingly intones. "Just what you
wanted, Wilhelm," he addresses one of the other agents. "Target
practice." With that, red energy begins to coalesce around the gauntlets
of three figures, while the fourth levels the odd grenade launcher at the
group.
Dragon Fist quietly glides forward towards the
VIPER battlesuits. He moves lightly, on the balls of his feet for better
balance and reaction time. His eyes watch the enemy closely, waiting for
signs of an impending attack.
Proteus shouts out sharply in a commanding voice, "Scatter! Arty comin' in!"
He allows the weapons of the four armored individuals
to play themselves out, waiting for his chance to strike, hoping that he
is immune to their blasts. One agent's blast passes harmlessly through
his insubstantial form and strikes something distant.
For half-a-second Odyssey is startled by the appearance
of the VIPER agents. Then glancing at all that armor an idea occurs to
her.
"Well, I guess we now know what inhabits
the seventh level of hell, VIPER agents dressed as Power Rangers,"
she quips, hoping to draw their attention and possibly fire away from the
others. If this doesn't work, I'm going to be swiss cheese, she
thinks. "Don't you know the Green Ranger always gets his butt beat?"
Odyssey feels the pull of the golden energy as
she prepares to teleport. Just as she's about to blink out, however, there
is a sudden flash of light about her, and the world goes red. Nauseous
and disoriented from the aborted teleport and now blinded by the light,
she staggers to regain her balance.
Proteus looks over to Odyssey and rushes forward
to intercept any additional attacks, his body phasing to become extremely
powerfully built. He leans over, attempting to protect Odyssey, who is
having a hard time standing straight up. "Are you okay? Can you see
me? Come on, soldier, on your feet!"
One VIPER agent opens fire on Dragon Fist with
a hail of red energy. Dragon Fist responds, whipping his hands up in a
kung-fu block. Fire suddenly blossoms forth from his arms, wrapping them
in protective flames from elbow to the tip of his fingers. The hero bats
aside the agent's bolt, sending it harmlessly off into the fog.
Starlight feels the rush of adrenaline from her
unusual biology. Quickly, she perceives the grenade launcher as the most
active threat and launches her aggression in the form of a Star Blast at
the grenade launcher unit. She laughs from the pure ecstasy of using her
powers, "Surrender or be destroyed!"
A twelve meter wide blast of Starlight's colorful
energy washes over the VIPER agent carrying the grenade launcher (and everything
else around them), and for a brief moment, agent and launcher are lost
in a sea of color. After the attack fades, however, both agent and launcher
are still standing firm. There is a click as a speaker is activated, and
a female voice with a Hispanic accent says, "Lady, you just made one
hell of a mistake." The agent fires the launcher, and a large projectile
lands with a clang on the deck of the ship, directly between where Odyssey
and Proteus are standing, and where Starlight is hovering.
There is a blinding white-blue flash as the projectile
bursts, and suddenly, Odyssey, Proteus, and Starlight are splattered with
impossibly hot, burning metal. Proteus and Starlight both recognize it
as being magnesium. To Odyssey, already stunned by the VIPER blast earlier,
the pain is excruciatingly hot, even through her forcefield, and keeping
it active is becoming difficult. Rather than cooling, the metal continues
to burn, stuck to her forcefield.
The tenacious burning metal is hot through Starlight's
forcefield and sticks to it, continuing to burn. The remaining VIPER agent
blasts the heroine with a gauntlet cannon. The blast sends her hurtling
to the very bow of the ship, where she lands with an undignified thud.
Bruised but still very conscious, she sits up.
For the moment, Proteus shrugs off the effects
of the burning metal, though it might become a problem in a few seconds.
However, Odyssey appears to be faring poorly, and the golden glow which
surrounds her is flickering.
Searing pain twists through Odyssey's body and
tears spring from her eyes. Damn, this hurts. How could anything hurt so
much?
"Sandoval!" someone barks in the distance.
"You know the orders. Make sure you don't hurt that amulet."
"Don't try to wash it off!" Dragon Fist
warns his companions, "Magnesium burns in water!" Probably not
necessary, he thinks, but you never know...
"And here I thought it was my good looks
they were after," Odyssey gasps in a
painful voice. "What a blow to my pride to hear it's just the amulet."
Dragon Fist moves into combat with the VIPER battlesuits.
Pressing the attack close to the villains, he hopes to avoid the devastating
grenades of the one by remaining near to her fellows. The hero lithely
darts between the agents, ensuring that any blasts that miss him will endanger
other agents.
Now close to his opponents, Dragon Fist moves
gracefully among them. He dances through martial
forms with a smoothness that few can achieve. Leaping high, the hero lashes
out with a kick towards one suit. This is but a feint, however, as it merely
forces the agent back. Dragon Fist lands, crouching low and continuing
with the momentum, and striking out with a hammerhand to the side of an
unsuspecting agent. Fire flares forth as the blow impacts the armored suit,
and the agent inside cries out, dropping the grenade launcher.
All the while, Dragon Fist fights with a silent
intensity. He doesn't trade gibes with the villains, nor does he take umbrage
at their insults. The hero gives himself entirely over to the flow and
moves of combat. Not all of his mind focuses on his current opponent however.
That vision, he thinks, I don't know what it portends, but I
don't think we've seen everything yet...
Amulet?! thinks Proteus, looking around.
He glances down and sees the amulet on Odyssey's chest. Great! This
is a classic trap. We fell for it, hook line and sinker. They want HER!
Quickly he begins brushing off Odyssey, trying to remove the particles,
knowing they will continue to burn. He leans to her whispering, "I
think they are after you! Get out of here! We can handle it, but we don't
need them gaining their objective. Half the battle is knowing when to retreat.
Teleport out of here, to a safe location, get yourself back to speed, then
come back. We'll be fine." Proteus gives her a stern look, advising
her departing.
Odyssey's thoughts immediately turn toward the
docks and all that cool water out there. If I could just reach it, she
thinks. Then a memory unbidden comes to her.
Tony and she camping in Yosemite. Teasing him for being the ultimate Boy
Scout. Tony saying that scouting was good for you. Taught self-reliance...
oww.....
It's hard to focus when you're in pain. How
am I ever going to get through labor and have a kid if I can't focus. Tony,
Tony said he brought magnesium matches...argh...they burn even when they
are wet. That PRIMUS guard, said they had some sort of magnesium shells.
"Proteus, it's magnesium," Odyssey says,
pain making it hard to spit out the words. "I'm going to try and teleport
out from under my forcefield and the magnesium. Hopefully I can teleport
away from this stuff. If it doesn't work, whatever you do, don't let them
get this amulet," she says gesturing toward a silver necklace with
arcane writing on it. "Destroy it first. Even if it means ripping
it off my burning body. Don't let VIPER have it."
"Ah, hell, how am I going to explain this
to Tony," she mutters before gathering her strength and concentration
to teleport on a site behind the VIPER agents before she was blinded.
Taking a deep breath through the pain, Odyssey
quickly drops her forcefield, then immediately teleports behind the VIPER
agents. Though it leaves her vulnerable, she cannot feel the scorching
pain from the burning metal There is a burning pile of magnesium where
she'd been standing a second before, Proteus notices. Odyssey is still
seeing red blotches in front of her eyes, but slowly her vision is beginning
to clear.
"You, Dragon Fist is it?" Proteus shouts.
"Well, we've got a spotter somewhere. Make sure it isn't a sniper!
Miss Lightshow, you okay? Good. Give Odyssey some protection! Let's get
these guys!"
Starlight's head pounds as she looks around, she
sees Odyssey hurt, but she hopes that she can hold out... I'm not going
to fail this time, I've got to prove myself to Dragon Fist. All right,
you metalheads get full power. "Your weapons only annoy me!"
Starlight balls up her anger into her right fist and fires at full power
at the VIPER agent now scrambling for her grenade launcher. The blast catches
her again, and this time, the suit collapses.
Immediately after the female agent collapses,
one of the VIPER suits makes an impossible leap upwards, using powerful
jump jets in the legs of the armor, and lands on the forward part of the
bridge. He brings his gauntlet down, and fires a long shot down, at Starlight.
The blast catches her squarely and washes over her. While the blast has
a disorienting effect, she's unaffected by the blinding light that accompanied
it.
From the starboard side of the ship, there is
the sound of a motorboat racing away. Of the two VIPER agents who have
not acted yet, one levels his blaster at Dragon Fist and fires, though
he misses. The other moves forward and picks up the fallen agent.
Dragon Fist takes a quick look around, trying
to spot any hidden watchers. Normally, the
heat of a body would stand out starkly against the cold metal of
a ship hull. However, the magnesium burst has ruined Dragon Fist's
visual advantage. Not anything that he can see yet.
"Can anyone see where that motorboat is?
I don't think these four are the whole of this situation."
That vision thing and this connection to the
amulet really bothers me, he thinks. Could VIPER be working with
some sort of magician? What benefit would they get from that partnership?
I hope Odyssey's all right. At least she's
out from under that... stuff. Proteus seems to be taking it fairly well,
but Starlight's taking it on the chin. I've got to drop these guys before
they hurt her!, Dragon Fist thinks.
Quick as a striking snake, Dragon Fist moves to
attack again. Recovering from his previous strike, the hero pivots on one
foot to face another VIPER agent. One smooth motion sends a punch smashing
into the agent attempting to rescue his fallen comrade, knocking him forward.
Starlight turns to face her newest opponent, her
eyes reflect the icy cold anger towards VIPER. Not for the people inside
the suits, but for the symbol that they wear. She would never forgive them
for what they had done...
"You killed my father!" She yells at
the confused VIPER agent. Pulling up more particles of rage from her forcefield,
she violently throws them at one of the VIPER agents.
The blast catches the agent who'd been just knocked
forward by Dragon Fist's punch, this time knocking him down, flat on his
back.
Proteus then stands turns and becomes insubstantial
once again. The pieces of burning magnesium drop from his form in a hiss
of burning metal, as he moves in quickly towards the remaining agents.
As soon as he reaches arm's length, he solidifies, draws back and lets
loose with his punch, pulling his arm back at the last moment. The armor
suit appears to be unaffected by the hit, for the agent within activates
his jump jets, and leaps over the side of the ship. The agent on the forward
part of the bridge also leaps down, into the fog and out of sight. A moment
later, there are two splashes.
The burning, it's stopped, Odyssey thinks.
Thank you God, but I hope you're not taking me up on that earlier offer
at the museum to go into the convent. Better not bank on divine intervention
twice in a row, Odyssey reminds herself and immediately brings up her
forcefield. Shaking her head, she tries to clear her field of vision.
"Next time, no Guinness for me," she
says. Peering through the fog and red dots
that have somehow created a bad image of hallucinogenic candy canes
before her eyes, Odyssey searches for a target.
I am not going down without a fight, she
silently swears, and without some answers. If all they wanted was the
amulet they could have attacked me anytime without having to deal with
other paranormals. It's not like half the freaking civilized world doesn't
know where I live. And what has happened to Maria?
Staggering to her feet, Odyssey concentrates on
the VIPER goon closest to her. The golden glow around Odyssey winks. It
appears she is struggling to maintain her forcefield. A second later a
ball of magical energy explodes from her hands and heads directly toward
the VIPER agent nearest to her.
"Back off, you overgrown Transformer,"
she shouts. Dragon Fist ducks suddenly to avoid the blast of golden energy
which erupts from Odyssey's hands. The blast misses the agent who has been
knocked down by Dragon Fist and Starlight's attacks, and goes wide, out
over the Bay.
Odyssey's vision finally clears. Before her stand
Dragon Fist, Proteus and Starlight, all standing over two prone VIPER-Iron
Guard suits.
"Odyssey, I think he's a confirmed kill."
Proteus smiles gently, sensing her pain, still visible on her face.
"Oh my," Odyssey says as she realizes
that the person she nearly hit was Dragon Fist. She turns bright red and
stutters out an apology. "I'm so sorry."
The sound of the motorboat's engine is fades sharply,
though from below decks, all of the heroes hear a muffled woman's scream.
"Someone's in trouble!" Odyssey exclaims,
looking around with her now-clear vision for a door on the upper deck's
cabin. In her haste to help someone, completing forgetting about her close-call
with the business end of a VIPER blaster. "We've got to help them.
There's got to be a way in somewhere on this deck."
Proteus exclaims, 'Your friend! Damn, divide and
conquer! We should've followed doctrine, mass and offensive, mass and offensive!
Never split your forces when you don't have to. Now she's SOL." Proteus
looks around, trying to pinpoint the scream in relation to their position
on the deck. 'What do you think. Is that the Avenger? Or another trap?
Either way, we need to help her out, right?"
Two down, two fleeing, thinks Dragon Fist.
Since it seems they can fly, I don't think I'm going to be much use
catching them. Hmm... I wonder what happened to...
"Avenger Chow!" Dragon Fist gasps as
the woman's scream cuts through the night.
The hero throws himself headfirst into a dive, straight through one
of the open hatches. He snaps into a roll just before
striking the lower deck.
"Well, that looks like a way in," Odyssey
says, running for the hatch.
I knew there was that other person here...
Dragon Fist thinks. I knew there was something else going on...
Anything that could take out an Avenger is bound to be pretty tough. I
hope I can hold it off until the others catch up!
To be continued….